Chatting With Sis
by Durbe the Barian
Summary: Remember when Masumi said she wanted to called her brother a few times? Well, guess who was on the other end? Fair warning, this is a story where Tooru is the middle Akai sibling. You don't like that theory, do NOT read this story. -Slight Angst, Slight Humor.-


**Detective Conan**

**Chatting With Sis**

**Family**

**Tooru/Sera**

**Remember when Masumi said she wanted to called her brother a few times? Well, guess who was on the other end? Fair warning, this is a story where Tooru is the middle Akai sibling. You don't like that theory, do NOT read this story.**

**(I'm proud to say I don't own Detective Conan. I'm no Gosho Aoyama, as those of you who've read Seen Through Shadows can vouch for.)**

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><p>Chatting With Sis<p>

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><p>The first time Tooru got a phone call from her, he was still waking up. He had only just recently found an apartment to stay in that was close to Kogoro Mouri so he could better keep an eye on him and staying up until 3 AM, doing nothing more than working on his stupid 'Scar Akai' costume really messed up his sleeping patterns.<p>

Luckily for him, however, the incessant ringing of his cell phone woke him up in time to catch his breakfast nearly catching fire. After putting the flames out – and, of course, turning off the stove – he grabbed the phone that was ringing from his counter.

It was his Rei Furuya phone.

With a grunt, he turned it on and held it to his ear. "Hello," he said. "Rei Furuya speaking."

"_Hey! Nii-san!_"

Tooru had to pull his phone away from his ear to prevent himself from going deaf. After a minute or two of calming himself down, he stared at the caller ID.

Masumi Sera.

"Hang on," he thought. "Why is she calling?"

"_Nii-san! Are you still on the line!? Hey! Come on!_"

Sighing, Tooru risked replacing the phone against his ear. "Yes, Ma-chan," he said. "I'm here. Why are you calling me," he looked towards the clock in his dining room; "at such an early time?"

"_I am? What time is it over there?"_

"6: 30."

"_Oh. It's only the late afternoon over here._"

Tooru nearly banged his head against his wall. "Why are you calling, Ma-chan?" he asked again. "Please don't make me hang up."

"_Eh! Don't hang up! I need to ask you a favor!"_

"And that is?"

For the first time since she called, Masumi hesitated in speaking.

After a second of that, Tooru was wide awake.

Masumi being silent was never a good sign.

"_Well, you see,_" she began, "_I'm planning on going back to Japan soon._"

"Ah, that's great," Tooru said with a smile. "Planning on sightseeing with Kaasan?"

"_Nah. You know she doesn't go for that kind of stuff._"

"Couldn't hurt to ask," Tooru thought.

"_Anyway, while I'm there, think I could stay at your pad?_"

There, Tooru froze up. "Hang on," he said as calmly as he could. "Are you asking me if you can stay here?"

"_You got it! Come on! It'll be fun. Like a sleepover!_"

Tooru deadpanned and slapped his face. "Ma-chan, we haven't had a sleepover since you were 5," he said. "And they were never fun for me, seeing as how you only raced into my room to hide from the thunder."

"_Hey, it was better than Shuu-nii's room. At least you didn't lock your door._"

Tooru's grip on his phone tightened at the mention of Akai.

Then he sighed. "Sorry, Masumi," he said, "but you can't stay here."

"_WHAT?!"_

She still whined like a little girl. Surprising.

"I've got work," Tooru said. "And I can't have a girl going through my apartment while I'm out. Not to mention, I just moved. It's not the same apartment that I was in when you left home three years ago."

"_You still live in Beika, right?_"

"Well, yes-"

"_Then I'm cool with it!"_

He could feel her grin when she said that one.

"Masumi," he huffed, "I'm sorry. But you can't stay at my place. I'm too busy to take care of you and, among other things, you just can't stay here."

"_Why? Don't you still love your sister?_" Masumi asked, feigning tears on the other end.

"Of course I do!" Tooru retorted. "But you just...you just can't stay here! I'm sorry, but that's not possible."

Then he hung up his phone before Masumi started crying real tears.

He was already hurting enough.

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><p>After that first call, Tooru had hoped that Masumi would leave him be. That maybe his refusal to accept her into his apartment while she was in Japan would keep her out of Beika. He couldn't afford to have her get hurt.<p>

He didn't want her involved in what he was trying to do.

But needless to say, the Akai stubbornness didn't end with him.

His sister got it as well, as he learned shortly after joining Kogoro as his apprentice.

"And so the number of detectives around you has increased yet again."

Those words made Tooru more than a little curious. "Again?" he asked.

The obese detective that he was addressing looked to Tooru and said in reply, "There's another one besides you...who has recently been showing her face around crime scenes along with Mouri-kun." Then he added, "A young female detective, that is."

"Oh. A young female detective, you say?"

While Tooru put on a brave face, the fact remained that he was slightly worried. If this female detective was actually Masumi, he didn't know what he would do. Forget calling her to be certain. He was far too deep into the Organization to risk it. He could only hope that it was a different girl entirely and that Masumi was still in America with their mother.

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><p>Unfortunately, Lady Luck was never on Tooru's side.<p>

Twice, he heard Ran use her phone and talk to someone she called 'Sera-san.' While he had hoped that a different 'Sera,' he also couldn't help but hope that it was Masumi. If anything, it meant that she had a friend that she could rely on if something happened that he couldn't bail her out of.

So long as she was safe, than he was doing his job as her elder brother.

But imagine his surprise when he saw her again, hugging that little bespectacled boy to oblivion. "Why here?" he thought, covering his mouth with his hand as if in thought.

She didn't notice him, and even if she did, it wouldn't have made a difference. Not for her. But for him, on the other hand, it would make a world of difference. If her relationship to Akai was discovered, as well as Tooru's own connection to her, his cover would be blown. Everything he had worked so hard to achieve would go up in a cloud of smoke.

If he was fortunate, he'd be like Akai and get kicked out.

If he wasn't...Masumi would likely lose another brother. He'd end up just like their father, who faked his own death to protect them all while he worked undercover in that blasted Organization.

And that scared him more than anything else in the world.

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><p>"Here you go," Tooru said with a grin, setting a plate down in front of a customer of the Poirot. "Enjoy your lunch."<p>

"Thank you," the customer responded, digging into his meal almost immediately.

Tooru smiled a bit more and went back to the bar, setting his tray down with a sigh.

It had been quite some time since he last seen Masumi. Ever since that day on the train where he had tried to capture Shiho Miyano, only to see her go up in smoke.

Ever since that day he saw Shuichi Akai in the smoke, smirking at him like he always did whenever he one-upped him.

"Shuichi Akai," he thought with a growl, his fingers wrapping around his tray to the point where he was bending it out of shape. "You're still alive...I know it now."

"Uh, Amuro-san?"

Azusa's call snapped him out of his frustration-fueled memory trip and prompted him to look at her. "Yes, Azusa-san?" he asked.

"Um, your phone's ringing," she said, pointing to the glow in his pocket.

"Hmm?" He looked down to his pocket and pulled his phone out.

A text message.

From Masumi Sera.

Why was he not surprised?

"Thank you, Azusa-san," he said. "I didn't notice."

He then opened the text message and read it silently.

"**Hey, Rei-nii. So, long story short, I was hired to investigate the boyfriend of a sister of a friend of mine and we found out that his ex-girlfriend is dead.**" Tooru either froze or deadpanned. How on Earth could his sister say such things so casually in a text message? "**Anyway, here's a picture of the crime scene. I'll call you in a few minutes with my deduction. Kay. Thanks. :D"**

"Sometimes, I wonder if letting my sister follow me around on a few of my cases in high school was a good idea," Tooru thought, looking at the picture that she attached to the text.

True to her word, Masumi sent a picture of the crime scene as well as the victim.

Didn't take Tooru long to figure out a thing or two about how the person was killed.

Then she called.

"Hello," he said.

"_Oi, Rei-nii,_" Masumi said.

Tooru raised an eyebrow. "Why are you whispering?"

"_Hehe. Funny story. You got my text?"_

"Just finished. So what are you calling about?"

"_Great. So here's my deduction."_

Then she gave him her deduction, something that froze Tooru when he heard it to the end. "Hang on," he thought. "She thinks the culprit is a woman?"

Obviously, Masumi noticed that Tooru wasn't speaking, as she quickly added, "Say, my deduction... It isn't wrong, is it?"

Tooru chuckled a little bit. Then, when he noticed that his sister was on the verge of whacking him upside the head through the phone, he added, "If you think it's correct, then give it a test. I can't tell you what happened because then it won't be your victory."

"_Okay. I'll give it a shot, then._"

With that, Tooru hung up his phone and placed it back in his pocket. "Sorry, Masumi," he thought. "But your deduction is way off."

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><p>Later that day, he got another text message.<p>

Again, it was from Masumi.

Opening it up, he found that she was questioning him.

Again.

"**Okay. Turns out my deduction was wrong.**"

Smiling a little bit, Tooru replied, "**Sorry. I didn't want to tell you.**"

Her response was immediate.

And harsh.

"**YOU KNEW!?**"

Tooru chuckled.

"**Yep.**"

"**But how?**"

He paused a little there, but then chose to be honest. "**It's because you missed the mascara.**"

Tooru could feel her glare when he sent that message, as well as in the response that followed.

"**Hang on. You mean you knew the whole time that my deduction was wrong because I missed the mascara?**"

"**Yep. Kaasan doesn't wear it, and neither do you, so I suppose it's natural that you would miss it.**"

Then she asked the one question that he hesitated big time in answering.

"**So how do you know about it?**"

Tooru paused in his walk.

"Hmm," he thought aloud. "How should I answer that?"

Knowing his sister, if he admitted to knowing a girl who used makeup on a daily basis, she'd want as many details on the subject as she could. And he had to avoid that at all costs.

So, he could only think of one other route.

"**A friend's girlfriend used it once.**"

It was true. Date's girlfriend, Natalie Kuruma, often wore makeup when the two were dating. She didn't wear a lot, but it was enough for him to notice, especially since Date frequently brought him along so he could meet her.

After sending the message, the response was not what he was expecting.

"**So you don't have a girlfriend yourself yet? That's kind of lame.**"

Tooru stared at the message for a while. Then he sighed.

"**Forget I said anything. Talk to you later, Ma-chan.**"

Then he stuck his phone in his pocket and walked to his car.

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><p>The night had fallen by the time Tooru got back to his apartment.<p>

He was tired. He was mentally exhausted. He was in his pajamas, ready to get a good night's rest.

And he had one more message to answer, much to his annoyance.

And once more, it was from his little sister.

Sighing, he turned on his Rei Furuya phone and looked at the message, flopping onto his bed as he did so.

"**So, Rei-nii. I was wondering how things were actually going with you,**" she said. "**Still a detective geek?**"

Tooru raised an eyebrow. "**What are you talking about? I was never a detective geek.**"

Her response was quick. Clearly, she was back home herself.

"**Yes, you were. Remember that album of old newspaper clippings you had? You were a huge Inspector Mouri fan. He was, like, your Sherlock Holmes. I'd bet that if you had to go undercover in Beika, you'd try to become his student or something.**"

Tooru just stared at that message for a second or two.

Then came a message that she added as a side note.

"**But who am I kidding? You're 29 now. No way would you do something THAT childish.**"

She was grinning. She simply **had **to be grinning when she wrote that down.

"**...Would you?**"

That was the last straw for the night. With a huff, Tooru shut his phone off, turned it to vibration, and placed it in the drawer of his side table. "And good night to you, Ma-chan," he sighed, throwing the blanket over himself.

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><p><strong>D.T.B: Kay. Theory time!<strong>

**Theory 1: Scotch is Tooru's dad. (I wish. I wish. I wish. XD )**

**Theory 2: He is the middle brother of the Akai family who changed his name to Furuya after he graduated from high school. (Yes, I go for that theory.)**

**Theory 3: If Theory 2 is correct, something happened between Tooru and Shuichi that made them have a bit of a falling out. (Less likely, but you never know. This IS a story where a teenager became a little kid.)**

**Theory 4: Tooru has two phones. His Rei Furuya phone that Masumi can call if she needs his help on a case. (The black one.) And his Tooru Amuro phone that we see all the time. He does this so that way the Black Organization won't find out his relationship to Masumi. Sadly, he only got the idea after Date's death, so he had to cut off all ties with his friend and regretted it.**

**Theory 5: I think that Tooru actually looked up to Kogoro when he was a kid, but that's a whole other story to explain.**

**End of theories for this story. If you found this to be cute, acceptable, or an interesting interpretation, please review. If you didn't, [holds open door] you may step out and leave the review box flame-free. Thank you. :D**


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